​US military instructors deployed to Ukraine to train local forces

ARCHIVE PHOTO: US servicemen (front) take part in military exercises outside the town of Yavoriv near Lvov, September 19, 2014 (Reuters / Roman Baluk) / Reuters

Paratroopers of the US 173rd Airborne Brigade, based in Vicenza, Italy, have arrived in western Ukraine to provide training for Ukrainian government troops.

The announcement came on
US Ambassador to Ukraine Geoffrey Pyatt's twitter account. The
diplomat posted pictures of the US paratroopers marching through
the airport in the western Ukrainian city of Lvov.

Pyatt has not given the exact number of the servicemen deployed
in Ukraine, but according to a Facebook post by Ukrainian
Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, there should be some 290 US
paratroopers. Avakov said that, under an agreement with the US
State Department, long-term joint drills of US paratroopers and
combat units of the Ukrainian National Guard, as well as training
will take place at Yavorivky.

The joint drills were agreed by Ukraine's President Petro
Poroshenko and US Vice-President Joe Biden early in spring. The
US paratroopers’ training will last for 24 weeks and involve some
900 servicemen, from several Ukrainian National Guard units.

In March, the UK started its training mission in Ukraine. It was
planned that up to 75 troops at a time would be engaged in a
six-month-long mission, training Kiev’s military “to
strengthen the defensive capability of the Ukrainian armed forces
and build the resilience that they need.”

Russia has expressed its concerns over the military training of
Ukrainian forces, saying such actions do not support conflict
settlement in the east of the country.

“The presence of foreign instructors in Ukraine, where an
internal conflict remains unresolved in southeast and where
problems arise with the implementation of the Minsk peace
agreement, does not help in settling the conflict and producing
an environment beneficial for it. On the contrary, it
destabilizes the situations,” said Dmitry Peskov, Putin’s
spokesman.

Kiev and rebel forces signed a ceasefire deal in February, which
involves the pullout of heavy weapons and a profound reform,
which would address the grievances of the dissenting regions and
reintegrate them into Ukraine. The deal has more or less held so
far, with the level of violence in eastern Ukraine dropping
significantly, OSCE monitors on the ground have reported.

But there is a high level of mistrust remaining among the rebels
toward Kiev. The Ukrainian authorities don’t appear to be willing
to resume social payments in the areas they don’t control, a
measure specified in the ceasefire agreement.

Instead, they are investing heavily into rearming and training of
the Ukrainian Army and National Guard. Combined with belligerent
rhetoric dominating the political discourse in Ukraine, there is
rising fear that Kiev plans a new offensive, instead of sticking
to the peace plan.